Okay okay i must say that...

JenniferLongo: She is not related to any one in the story...she was good frinds with...you know what. I'll let you read on to find out who she knew and why shes here! god i'm evil!

Banana4422: I'm glad you'll try to get used to the accents, cuse i don't want to go back and change them!

And now then...the story Chapter 6: Learning about a stranger, from a friend!

Pony's thoughts

Soda was staring into space, that girl he was talkin' to was a pretty one. I could understand why he would be interested in her. But I haven't seen him live this since Sandy, and even then, he didn't even stare into space like that when he was with her. She was different, she wasn't a regular girl, and she had something special.

"Soda?" I asked "you like her?"

Soda was silent; he was still looking in to space but his eyes showed that he was still listening

" I don't know…Maybe."

I couldn't help but smile, he did, and I was glad, he needed someone to fill Sandy's spot. I'm not sure she could, Soda was going to merry her, but maybe she could help take his mind off her, I sighed, she left last November, last year was very eventful.

"So Pony, what ya got planned next weekend?" Soda asked

"Nothing, why?"

"No reason, just wanted to know."

I knew he would want to come back out here, and who could blame him? Horses, event riding, that girl…

"You wanna come back out here next weekend?" I asked for him

"Yeah, maybe if we get lucky, we can ride."

"You know some one that could let us?"

"Yep."

"It isn't that "Pamela?" is it?" I asked wondering if I had to put up with the wired Socy girl

Soda laughed

"No some one else."

"That other girl you were talking to?"

"She might let us if I ask her."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"What's her name?"

"She said the her middle name was Roxanne, and that we should just call her that."

"Weird."

That was a highly uncommon name, but she didn't seem to be from a round here. She didn't even look familiar; she must have not been here for long, I would have remembered if I had seen her I would think. I just shrugged it off and followed Soda back to the arena and found the rest of the gang. We watched people try to stay on horses that looked as if the were as wild as the wind and just as agile. When we got home we were exhausted, I nearly passed out on the couch as soon as I got home, Soda went strait to bed and Darry went in to take a shower. I sat on the couch and looked at the clock, 9:00 in the evening, and it was only Thursday. I sighed and was happy that I didn't have any homework. After a moment of just sitting peacefully I got up and went to bed. When I woke up I found that I had woken up earlier that Soda and Darry, I got dressed and started to make breakfast, but it was only five o'clock in the morning. "Well…" I thought, "At least I have time to think." trying to think on the up side. I had all my things together and I was ready for school, so I had nothing else to do. After a minute for reflecting on the last few days, I found myself thinking about the girl, Roxanne? She did remind me of Johnny, but not the scared eyes, she was too confident at the time, to relaxed, but she did remind me of him before he was beaten, when he still could put on a brave or happy face, her hair was black like his, and her hair did cover her eyes, I just couldn't place my finger on it, but there were so many ways that she reminded of Johnny. I heard Darry stir in bed and decided it was time to make breakfast. I cracked open a few eggs and made some poorly made pancakes. After soda woke up he helped me with the rest of the pancakes and since we got up before Darry, he had to wash dishes.

On the walk to school I took in the scenery, the trees were in their bare, prickly stage, and the grass was no longer a soft fuzzy pastel green blanket that covered the rolling hills, but a prickly yellow brown crust of sharp jagged needles. The skies were cloudy and gray all the time, as if they had something to mourn, and the only birds that could be seen were crows and sparrows. I watched as they pecked at the ground in an attempt to get something to eat, I knew that there search would turn up poorly if they got anything at all. Worms would be dormant and seeds would have already been covered up by the earth's warm blanket of dirt. Having my mind on other things really helped me pass the time as I walked to school, I was a sophomore in high school and still made good grades, I finally had gotten over what had happened to Johnny and Dally, and finally accepted what had happened to them. As I stood in front of the school I saw Cherry standing with a group of Socs, they turned and gave he a hate filled glare as I walked by them, Cherry could only smile softly so only I could see it.

"Watch it grease!" one yelled

All I could do was keep walking, I didn't want to make a seen.

It seemed that classes went by fasted than usual and I started the long walk home in the unforgiving cold. As I took a deep breath and wrapped my arms together for warmth I heard some one run up behind me.

"Oh, Ponyboy!" the voice called out "Pony, wait up!" It was Cherry Valance, the girl who I met at the movies, the girl who watched sunsets and once gave me a great piece of advice

"Yeah Cherry?" I asked turning to greet her

"I haven't seen ya round in a while, I thought it would be nice if we could talk for a while."

I smiled

"Yeah, that would be nice."

We took the road that went through the wooded area of the park so the Socs wouldn't catch her, it was only a half mile walk from the school to her house and turned down a ride from both her parents and her friends just so she could talk to me,

"How the gang since…you know?"

"There doing okay." I said trying not to remember it took them a whole three months to start laughing and goofing around with out feeling bad.

"And your brothers?"

"Darry has stopped working so much and Soda has moved on since his girl friend"

"Pardon me? Since his girl friend…"

"Oh, sorry, Soda's girl friend Sandy…he was planned to merry her but…" I paused, and when I didn't say anything she urged me to continue, "She got pregnant with some other guys child."

"That's horrible." She said, "Why would she do that if he was planning to merry her?"

"She didn't know, and she didn't say."

"Dose he have anyone new?" She said with a curious smile on her face "Surely some one that cute can't stay single for very long."

"I think he likes this on girl, we met her at the barn…"

"Don't worry…I won't tell." She said as if reading my mind "Do you know her? Are they going out or just making fools of them selves talking to each other?" she asked with a grin. I laughed

"The last one."

"What dose she look like?"

"Long black hair, blue eyes, dresses like a guy, works at the stables…"

"He likes McCloud?"

I raised and eyebrow questioning what she had said

"Who?"

"McCloud…Roxanne McCloud." She explained

"Yeah."

"She's and okay girl, a bit rough a round the edges and her off putting manor is a bit well, off putting," she said with a grin. "But she's real neat, and takes a lot of chances, even if the result might be that every one hates her."

"You know her?" I asked putting a cigarette in my mouth and lighting it before the harsh bitter cold wind blew out the match.

"She helps with the horses, she hasn't been there that long, I'd say two months, but I've gotten to talk to her, she has a great judge of character and a good since of humor. She loves animals, especially horses, and she has a dog to, a white German Shepard I think."

"You know her well?"

"Were not good friends but we can swap a few words with out starting a fight, her southern accent is a real draw for some guys."

"When we were there I only saw her a few times but I saw Soda talking to her." I paused "We found Mickey."

"Pardon?"

"Mickey, Soda's horse, we found him, he old but looks like he's in prime condition. Soda's real happy," there was a moment of silence between us as we walked down the wooded path until the woods continued on no more. Before we could say their goodbyes a strong hand landed on my shoulder.

"Hey, Grease!" A deep voice boomed over my shoulder and into my ear "What chya doing whit a pretty girl like Cherry for?" He grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and picked me up.

He was tall and thin, and had dark hair, he was a Socs al right, he apparently had taken Bob's place in the school, star football player, popular, had the head cheerleader as a girl friend, Cherry had stepped down as head cheerleader the week Bob died.

"I was just talking to her is all." Was all I could force out of my mouth.

"Sure you were greaser!" he was getting ready to pound the shot out of me I didn't know what to do

"Gary! Put him down!" I heard Cherry snap "I wanted to talk to him with out you all commin down on him!" She yelled

"What in the world would you wanna ask this greasy punk?"

"I wanted to ask him about Bob!" She cried with a forced tear.

I was shocked, she was a good actress, and I actually believed that she wanted to talk to me about Bob. Gary looked at me with a grimace and looked as if he'd rather beat me in then have me standing there looking at him, talking to Cherry.

"Fine…you tell me when this punk is bothering you!" He said giving me the deadeye and dropin me back to the ground.

"Cherr, why don't you forget this loser and get a ride home with me!" he suggested with a grin. I could tell he was tryin to pick her up, but Cherry didn't like him. But she had no choice, she could tell that if she didn't go with him they would jump me then and there.

"Well, I guess I'll be seein ya later Ponyboy." Cherry called as she walked with Gary to his car

"Yeah," I said "later."

sooooo….. Thoughts?

Review, please! Your opinions are worth a lot to me!

WoOt!

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